This invention relates generally to a device adapted to hold multiple spools of wound material for selective dispensing or unwinding of the material from the spools.
More particularly, the invention relates to a portable cart adapted to carry multiple spools of electrical wire. Carts of this type are useful, for example, by electricians who wire industrial, commercial or residential buildings. In such a building, electrical wire of different gauges, types, and color coding is utilized. To maintain existing electrical systems or to install new electrical systems in such a building, various types of wire must be available. Securing spools of wire to a cart enables the wire to be transported to different job sites in the building and frequently avoids the need to make trips to a central storage location to get the necessary wire. Several prior carts adapted to carry spools of wire are well suited to transport a variety of wire.
Not all such job sites, however, are accessible to a cart. For example, some wiring in industrial buildings is only accessible by way of a raised walkway or permanent scaffolding and the electrical wire must be hand-carried up the scaffolding. In this instance, either the wire must be pre-cut before ascending to the job site or the individual spools of wire must be removed from the cart and carried up the scaffolding. In the first case, the length of wire needed for a such a job must either be estimated or measured before being cut from the spools. This leaves open the possibility that the pre-cut lengths of wire will not be long enough and that additional trips to the cart will be necessary. In addition, the pre-cut wire must be hand-wound into manageable bundles before being carried to the job site. While carrying spools of wire to the job site may be preferable for simple jobs, jobs which require several types of wire may require more than one trip between the cart and the job site. Moreover, neither of these alternatives provides for a convenient method of dispensing the wire from the spools or for unwinding the hand-wound bundles at the job site.